Sonos BU-150 review

Sonos’s ZonePlayer BU-150 is by far the most expensive product here, but it’s the best for multi-room setups and comes with enough equipment to stream music to two rooms and control it from anywhere in your home.

The kit includes ZonePlayer 90 and ZonePlayer 120 receivers and the Controller 100. Neither receiver has an integrated speaker but the ZonePlayer 120 has a built-in amplifier for unpowered speakers, while the ZonePlayer 90 has both digital S/PDIF and analogue audio outputs. Both have phono line-in connectors.

When you connect a Sonos receiver to a network, it creates its own secure wireless network that lets you connect to and control up to 34 additional ZonePlayer receivers. Each can play different tracks or act as part of a group playing the same content streamed from the internet or a server. The wireless remote has a scroll wheel and a 3½in colour screen that lists music and internet radio stations.

The system comes with its own Desktop Controller server software for Windows, a proprietary UPnP system that lets you share files stored on your PC or elsewhere on your network. It also has limited support for some UPnP server applications. It played all our test files, including unusual formats such as Ogg and FLAC. Adding internet radio stations is easy, and it comes with a selection of presets, including all the BBC stations. It also comes with a month’s subscription to Napster’s Music on Demand service and supports other streaming services such as Last.fm and audio book provider Audible.

Sonos’s system is flexible and easy to use but very expensive. It’s great for streaming music to multiple receivers but, unless you have a large house and deep pockets, you’re better off with a couple of UPnP or SMB receivers. You could buy two Philips Streamium NP2900 receivers for less than £440 and you wouldn’t have to buy external speakers. If you need cheaper receivers that play in sync, opt for Logitech’s Duet and Boom combination.